This invention relates generally to eating utensils, and more particularly to a utensil that is a combination of a tweezer device and a fork.
Picking up small morsels of food with a traditional fork, spoon or knife can be difficult due to the relative size differential of traditional utensils and the object to be picked up. A small morsel may be of a size smaller than the space between the prongs of a traditional fork and of a shape such that a spoon could not be used. The morsel may be round and roll off the fork or spoon, or be wet and slippery and difficult to hold or cut because of a sauce or liquid coating.
Picking up or grasping small things from a plate such as fish bones can be very difficult, because traditional utensils do not allow a user to firmly grasp the small fish bone that needs to be removed. The fish bone could more easily be removed if an eater could firmly grasp an end of the bone and pull it from the fish meat. Instead, a user ends up pushing or sliding the fish bone away from the more desirable remaining fish.
Removal of seeds from fruits or other vegetables can also be difficult with traditional utensils, especially small seeds such as those found in apples, watermelon or peppers. In addition to the removal of undesirable food morsels, an eater can also have a difficult time selecting small desirable morsels of food from a larger portion of food with traditional utensils.
Foods such as spaghetti, are difficult to eat with traditional utensils and can more easily and with less mess be eaten if an eater is better able to firmly grasp the noodles. Firmly grasping the noodles provides better control and less mess in eating as opposed to wrapping noodles around a traditional utensil or some other noodle eating method.
Some foods are difficult to cut because it is hard to hold these foods in a steady position. This may also be due to an oily sauce or coating. Attempting to hold foods of this nature while cutting with traditional utensils, can create a mess on an eaters clothes, table or floor, or injure an eater with a knife or fork that slips from an unsteady food grasping position.
If a separate utensil such as a tweezer or pick were used to remove the undesirable morsel of food from the wanted morsel, the user would then have to set down the tweezer or pick and grasp the traditional fork or spoon to continue eating the food.
Prior art attempts to solve these problems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,056,173 and 4,809,435. These patents both disclose eating utensils which are combination fork and chopsticks utensils. Both disclose a conventional fork head with a chopstick assembly protruding from said head in place of a conventional fork handle. In both cases, should the eater wish to use the chopsticks portion instead of the fork portion of the utensil, the utensil must be put down, repositioned and regripped before utilization of the utensil can be resumed. This is likewise the case should the eater wish to use the fork portion of the utensil instead of the chopsticks portion of the utensil.